Information Commissioner of Canada

The letter · 29 September 2026

Complaint under section 30 of the Access to Information Act - Privy Council Office - file A-2026-00642 - fee waiver refused without reasons, a date of receipt 2 days before the request, the 30 days held for the fee

Hello,

This is a complaint under section 30 of the Access to Information Act against the Privy Council Office, under paragraphs 30(1)(b) and 30(1)(f). I am self-represented. Copies of the request and of the Office's messages are attached in one file, each with its date, sender, recipient and subject.

The request.

On Saturday 26 September 2026 I made a request by email to [email] (document 1). The Office's reply quotes it beneath its own text with the header "Sent: Saturday, September 26, 2026 5:09 AM" (document 2). The request has 4 numbered items. Item 1 asks for records that assess the risk of military action against Canada by any state, including the assessment the Prime Minister described to the New York Times on 23 September 2026. Items 2 and 3 ask for records that assess the risk of nuclear attack on Canada and the reliability of any assurance by an allied state to defend Canada against nuclear attack. The last item asks, where no record exists, for a statement naming the officer who searched. The request asked the head of the institution to waive the application fee under subsection 11(2). The ground: the records concern whether the Government has assessed the defence of Canada against nuclear attack, and every record released will be published in full. It asked that a refusal be given in writing with reasons and the name and title of the officer who made it.

The institution's conduct.

On 29 September 2026 at 08:59 Ottawa time the Office's Deputy Director, Access to Information and Privacy, wrote that the request "has been created and assigned an initial received date of September 24, 2026" and that the file number is A-2026-00642. The message states that "the fee waiver request has not been approved" and names the Executive Director, Access to Information and Privacy and Executive Correspondence Services as the delegated authority who denied it. It adds that "the request is not considered complete until the prescribed $5 application fee has been received. As a result, processing of the request cannot begin, and the statutory timeline will not commence, until payment has been received." No reason for the refusal is given.

The date of receipt the Office recorded, 24 September 2026, is 2 days before the request was made.

On 24 September 2026 the Office sent me the same message on a different request, on the pension consequences of termination for cause, file A-2026-00582 (document 3). The 2 messages are identical word for word, the date of receipt included. The file number is the only change.

Grounds.

1. Paragraph 30(1)(b). I have been required to pay an amount under section 11 after a refusal of the waiver that states no reason, on a request that asked for the reasons in writing. The refusal was written for another file and sent on this one with that file's date of receipt left in. Subsection 11(2) gives the head of the institution a discretion over each request, and a form carried over from another file shows that the discretion was not exercised on this request. The request concerns an assessment the Prime Minister described in public 3 days before it was made. The refusal answers none of the grounds the request gave. It is the sixth refusal of the waiver to me by the Office since 10 September 2026, on 6 requests, and the sixth without a reason. Public Safety Canada waived the same fee for me on 29 September 2026, file A-2026-00224.

2. Paragraph 30(1)(f). The Office opened a file, assigned a number and recorded a date of receipt, and states in the same message that the period under section 7 has not begun. Section 7 runs "within 30 days after the request is received", subject to sections 8 and 9. The reference to section 11 was removed by S.C. 2019, c. 18, s. 6.2. The only suspension of the period is subsection 6.1(1.2), while the head of the institution seeks the Commissioner's approval to decline to act. From the day the request was made, the 30 days end on 26 October 2026. From the date the Office recorded, they end on 24 October 2026.

3. Paragraph 30(1)(f). The Office recorded a date of receipt that precedes the request. Section 9.4 of the Access to Information Manual of the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat requires that a request be recorded in the tracking system "including the date of receipt". Subsection 4(2.1) requires the head of the institution to "respond to the request accurately and completely". Between 24 and 29 September 2026 the Office gave 1 file number to 2 requests, as set out in my complaint of 24 September 2026 on file A-2026-00582, and 1 date of receipt to 2 requests. A register that carries numbers and dates from one request to another cannot show when any time limit runs.

WHAT THE COMMISSIONER IS TO DO.

Investigate under paragraphs 30(1)(b) and 30(1)(f). Find that the waiver was refused without reasons, by a text carried over from another file. Recommend under paragraph 37(1)(a) that the head of the institution waive the fee under subsection 11(2), or decide the waiver in writing with reasons within a period the Commissioner sets. Find that the Act confers no power to hold the period under section 7 for a fee. Recommend that the Office state in writing the date of receipt it relies on for file A-2026-00642. Join this file with the complaints against the Office of 17 September 2026 (OIC 5826-04322), 24 September 2026 (file A-2026-00582) and 25 September 2026 (file A-2026-00581). Given 6 refusals without reasons on 6 requests of one requester since 10 September 2026, initiate a complaint under subsection 30(3) into the Office's handling of the fee and of the date of receipt.

On ground 1, the application to the Federal Court under subsection 41(1) follows the Commissioner's report.

The attached file holds 3 documents: 1, the request of 26 September 2026; 2, the Office's message of 29 September 2026 on file A-2026-00642; 3, the Office's message of 24 September 2026 on file A-2026-00582. Write to me in English, by email to [email].

Respectfully,
Danilo Dzyuban
Attachments: PCO-A-2026-00642-copies.pdf